Rain pause until weekend

Two women take heat guard as showers take a break in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Prashant Mitra)

So much so for Jharkhand’s successful shower show.

Happy rains have ceased to be in the state with the monsoon trough drifting towards the north and weathermen predicting a dry spell for at least the next 72 hours.

“The trough has moved north. It is stretched between eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland across sub-Himalayan Bengal. The prevailing system will deprive Jharkhand of uniform and widespread rain,” said A.K. Sen, the director of Patna Meteorological Centre.

Another senior analyst at the Patna Met office said the wind pattern had also changed from easterly to westerly, which was preventing moisture inflow into the atmosphere.

In the last 24 hours, no IMD observatory — barring the one in Daltonganj — reported rainfall. The Palamau headquarters recorded 17.1mm till 8.30am on Tuesday.

Sen, however, added that rain and thundershowers might take place in some isolated places of the state over the next three days owing to local weather systems.

On Tuesday, IMD offices in Patna and Ranchi forecast “generally cloudy sky” in most places with “possibility of thunder development” in isolated pockets, especially those located in hilly terrain.

Weathermen maintained that the trough would be revived around weekend, resulting in widespread rainfall in the state.

Incidentally, many places like Jamshedpur, Pakur, Jamtara, Ramgarh and Giridih have registered more than normal rainfall ever since the onset of monsoon on June 18. The average normal rain till June 24 was around 140mm. Capital Ranchi trailed with 110mm.

According to statistics made available by the Met department, the state has also recorded an average of 114.5mm in the last seven days against a normal of 95mm.

The cloud cover in most districts on Tuesday did not allow maximum temperatures to soar. Jamshedpur recorded a daytime high of 37.6°C against Monday’s 39°C.

Similarly, the maximum reading dived to 37.8°C in Daltonganj from 40.4°C. Ranchi was cooler at 35.5°C.

On Monday, the IMD observatory in the capital had recorded a maxiumum temperature of 36.1°C. In most districts, too, day temperatures dropped two to three degrees in 24 hours.